Whether or not writer Leigh Whannell, the writer of all four “Insidious” movies, intended it from the get-go, this horror series has become an exploration of the backstory of Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), who has viewed her gifts for seeing, speaking to and confronting the dead as both a blessing and a curse. (Imagine the “Poltergeist” franchise, if it had been about Tangina, the spiritual housecleaner played unforgettably by Zelda Rubenstein.)
Making the movies all about Elise turned out to be a smart move, since Shaye brings such a depth of feeling and empathy to each film; it’s been said that horror movies are one of the few genres that where female characters consistently get to be active and interesting, and Shaye’s work in the series — including “Insidious: The Last Key,” the fourth and latest outing — has been the main reason to get enthusiastic about each new sequel.
Elise got killed off at the beginning of the first “Insidious,” but the series has managed to keep her alive with prequels and sidequels; “The Last Key” brings the character right up to the events of the first “Insidious,” but that’s not to say that if this one does well, we won’t see more of Shaye in another time-hopping prequel. (Particularly since this chapter gives her a new relative who’s also a poltergeist whisperer.)
This movie is, thankfully, much less interested in myth-building than it is in character development, giving us more of a look at where this woman comes from and how her abilities have shaped her life.
We open in a flashback to 1950s New Mexico, where young Elise (Ava Kolker, “Girl Meets World”) first realizes her gift for talking to the dead via the spirits of the prisoners being executed in the neighboring penitentiary, where her cruel father Gerald (Josh Stewart, “Shooter”) works as a guard.
While he wants Elise to suppress her paranormal activities, her mother, Audrey (Tessa Ferrer, “Grey’s Anatomy”), offers nothing but love and encouragement to Elise and her younger brother Christian (Pierce Pope).
Tragedy strikes at the hand of a demonic creature who passes between dimensions — much of the “Insidious” saga deals with a purgatory that Elise calls “the Further” — and Elise runs away from home to escape Gerald’s abuse.
But in 2010 (when “The Last Key” is set), she gets a call to return to that house to deal with the evil that still dwells there, and in doing so, she must encounter an embittered Christian (Bruce Davison), from whom she has been estranged for decades.
Whannell doesn’t break much new ground here — he’s written more shtick than usual for himself and Angus Sampson to play as the sidekicks, clearly to keep himself interested — but he and Shaye have created a fascinating character in Elise, and both of them apparently relish the opportunity to fill in some of the blanks in her backstory.
New-to-the-franchise director Adam Robitel (“The Taking of Deborah Logan”) and returning editor Timothy Alverson have fun with the mechanics of the PG-13 jump-scare; there’s one show-stopping scene in particular in which they make you wait for it, and wait for it, and it’s all the more satisfying when it finally comes.
The scares here are mild and kid-friendly, and there’s virtually no gore. Whannell’s screenplay touches on the idea of humanity being as monstrous as anything that goes bump in the night, but ultimately the worst things that men do here are blamed on supernatural forces beyond their understanding or control. It plays as a bit of a cop-out in a film that otherwise makes some interesting points about the power of love and family in a cold and chaotic universe.
Hardcore horror audiences won’t find much that’s frightening in “Insidious: The Last Key” — there’s not even that wonderfully unsettling shriek of violins under the title this time — but as a delivery system for more great work from Lin Shaye, it more than accomplishes its mission.
2017 Box Office Hits and Misses, From Marvel Blockbusters to Matt Damon's Many Duds
This year's box office had some obvious big hits -- Marvel, "Star Wars," "Beauty and the Beast" -- but the numbers also revealed some interesting trends when it comes to what was a hit and a miss financially. Here are just a few of them.
HIT: Representation
The demand for more women and people of color in media wasn’t just a Twitter trend, it was backed up by wallets. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot were the queens of the summer as “Wonder Woman” grossed $412.5 million domestic, while Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was Hollywood’s biggest bang for its buck with $254 million grossed against a $4.5 million budget. Even indie films reflected this trend, as Best Picture winner “Moonlight” set a studio box office record for A24 … until it was broken by “Lady Bird,” the directorial debut of Greta Gerwig.
MISS: Long-running franchises
Audiences were very clearly not interested in a fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Transformers” movie, as 2017 installments for both franchises proved to be by far the lowest grossing films in their respective series. Disney can absorb the loss on “Pirates” failing to launch, but for Paramount, which looked to “Transformers” as its major tentpole and has another sequel and a “Bumblebee” spinoff on the slate, this was very bad news.
HIT: Horror
By far, 2017 has been a huge year for horror at the box office. Blumhouse’s low budget formula for horror continues to pay dividends for Universal, while WB/New Line’s “Conjuring” series topped $1 billion after the release of “Annabelle: Creation.” And of course, there’s “It,” the biggest horror hit of all time with nearly $700 million worldwide gross.
MISS: Raunchy comedies
Very few comedies were able to find traction at the box office this year. New Line's "The House" was the lowest-grossing film of Will Ferrell's leading role career with $34.1 million, while others like "Girls' Night" and "Snatched" also fell flat. A film that did buck the trend was Universal's "Girls Trip," which earned rave reviews and a $139 million global gross
HIT: The MCU
Well, duh, Marvel Studios has been the one constant at the box office for the past decade. But why was it especially a hit? Because this year Marvel Studios became the first production studio to release three films to $100 million-plus openings. With “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” coming up, that streak could increase to five.
MISS: Dark Universe
Universal had a strong year with over $5 billion grossed worldwide, but the Dark Universe’s failure to launch with “The Mummy” was a big blemish. Despite launching with much fanfare, “The Mummy” needed overseas help to stay out of the red as it only grossed $80 million domestically. Five months later, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who were selected to oversee the project, stepped down.
HIT: Diverse Slates
Even though Disney remained on top with their stable of franchises, Warner Bros. and Universal were able to keep up with a diverse set of films. In addition to "Wonder Woman," WB also released hit horror films like "It" and "Annabelle: Creation" and a blockbuster Oscar contender in "Dunkirk," while Universal's Blumhouse horror films and franchises installments like "Fate of the Furious" performed well alongside films aimed for female audiences like "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Girls Trip."
MISS: Matt Damon
Two years after the success of "The Martian," Damon has fallen on hard times. His two awards season hopefuls, "Suburbicon" and "Downsizing," have both tanked at the box office, while his 2017 blockbuster, "The Great Wall," did decently in China but fell flat in America with just $45 million domestic.
MISS: Summer
This year's box office total won't beat the $11.3 billion made last year, and a weak summer is to blame. The May-August box office total was the lowest since 2006, ending with an August that had two weekends without a wide release and the lowest total for the month in two decades.
HIT: The rest of the calendar
But while the summer was bad, domestic totals could have been worse had it not been for strong performances in the spring and fall. March and September 2017 set new records for their respective months off of films like "Beauty and the Beast" and "It," while "Star Wars" and "Jumanji" have given theaters a strong holiday finish. The traditional slate schedule is being broken, and hit films can now come at any time of the year.
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Horror, female protagonists and diverse film slates all proved to be successful this year
This year's box office had some obvious big hits -- Marvel, "Star Wars," "Beauty and the Beast" -- but the numbers also revealed some interesting trends when it comes to what was a hit and a miss financially. Here are just a few of them.
